Ice tray



Jan. 21, 1941. G, GRUBB 21,229,074

ICE TRAY Filed Feb. 25. 1957 INVENTOR.

%TORNEY.

hdllihlllll lllDlll TlltdW lllunnar lGrubb, dtoclrholin, Sweden,assignor, by rnesne assignments, to hervcl, line... ,ldew Torlr, hi.ill, a corporation oi Delaware llpplieation February 233, lllll'l,derial lilo. 126,969 lln Germany March d, 1936 ll Claims.

My invention relates to ice trays for use in household refrigerators,and has for its object to provide an improved ice tray from which ice isreadily removed without the necessity of using heat or water. Moreparticularly, it is an object or my invention to provide an improved icetray and a device co-operating therewith to facilitate the removal ofits frozen contents. ll accomplish these objects by providing a traybody having a side wall which is normally bowed inwardly tor asubstantial distance in a lengthwise direction. The bond between thebowed side wall and ice is readily broken by expanding the side wallwith outward movement thereof from an opposite side wall. The extent oroutward movement or the bowed side wall to break the ice bond isrelatively small, and, after peeling and shearing has once been startedat the upper surface of the ice, such peeling and shearing progressesreadily about the m side walls and along the tray bottom due to the factthat the inward bulge of the bowed side wall extends for a substantialdistance ,in the direction oi its length.

in order to facilitate the removal of ice from a tray body of thecharacter just described, I also provide a device which is operative toexpand the inwardly bowed side wall and cause outward movement thereof.The device may be so con structed that, after the bond between the iceand bowed side wall has been brolren, the device is operative toseparate the ice from the tray body.

The invention, together with the objects and advantages thereof, willbecome apparent from the following description talren in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, andof which Fig. 1 is a plan view of an ice tray embodying" my invention;Fig. 2 is a front view of the ice tray shown in F g. l; Fig. 3 is afragmentary sectional view talren on line d-t of Fig. i; Fig. i is afragmentary plan view of'a modification of the ice tray shown in i Fig.l; and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line li-b of Fig.l.

In Fig. l, I have shown an ice tray it having resilient bottom and sidewalls. The tray is preferably made of suitable metal, such as aluminumor stainless steel, for example, and about the upper edges of the sidewalls is provided an outward extending flange ii. The tray lll is so iformed that one side wall it is normally bowed inwardly for asubstantial distance in a lengthwise direction. The bowed portion ofside wall it is slightly less than the distance between the adjacentopposing side walls and presents a single curved surface having arelatively large radius of curvature.

"When ice is produced in the tray it and it is desired to remove the icefrom the tray, the bond between the ice and the inwardly bowed side walladapted to receive a pin. it.

(till. Em -limb) provide a force multiplying device for causing lidoutward movement of the inwardly bowed side wall. To this end the flangeill at the upper edge of the bowed side wall it is broken awayintermediate its ends, and at each end of the side wall the flange islooped to form sleeves id id The pin it is provided with levers it ateach end which are connected by a cross member it which serves as ahandle to operate a cam or eccentric ll fixed to the pin il ll strongleaf spring ill is disposed at d the same level as the eccentric ill andits ends are secured in any suitable manner, as by riveting, or welding,for example, to the outer surface of the bowed side wall it. The leafspring it extends across the side wall it and is substantially 25parallel to the bottom of the tray body ill. The spring id is secured tothe side wall ii. in such a manner that it is normally under tension andis bowed outwardly, as shown most clearly in Fig. l. :30

In using the tray it and device just described, the tray is filled withwater and placed in a cooling unit of a refrigerator. After the waterhas been frozen, the tray is taken out of the cooling unit with thelevers ill and eccentric l l in the 35 position shown in Figs. 2 and 3.The levers it are then pulled upwardly by the handle it to- Ward :1horizontal position. With such upward movement of the levers ill theeccentric ll turns and exerts a force on the hat spring id and 40 tendsto straighten out the latter. Due to the straightening out action of thespring it the inwardly bowed side wall it? also tends to expand andstraighten out, and, with the application of forces in oppositedirections on the side wall i2 5 at the ends of the spring it, the sidewall it is caused to move outward to break the bond between the-ice andthe side wall. In other words, an inward movement of the outwardly bowedleaf spring ill causes an outward movement of the m inwardly bowed sidewall it with the connecting points of the spring and the side walltending to move away from each other.

although the extent of outward movement of the bowed side wall it maynot be very great, 55 it is nevertheless sufficient to break the bondbetween the ice and the sidewall. The arrangement of the levers lb,eccentric ii, and the leaf spring ill is such that the force applied tothe levers it is multiplied many times, whereby exso pending of thebowed side wall I 2 is readily effected by inward movement of theoutwardly bowed leaf spring l8.

In Figs. 4 and 5 I have shown a modification of the invention whereinthe device, in addition to breaking the bond between the ice and thebowed side wall l2 of the tray, is also operative to exert a separatingforce between a grid structure l9 and the tray body lb. The gridstructure I9 may consist of two zigzag-shaped partitions 20 and acentrally disposed straight partition 2| connected at their ends by across member 22. The cross member 22 is provided with a flange 23 whichis adapted to extend over the upper edge of the side wall l2 adjacentthe eccentric H. In operation, the levers i5 are pulled upward by thehandle IS in the same manner as in the embodiment just described tobreak the bond between the side wall I! and the ice. With continuedupward movement of the levers i5 after the ice bond at the front endwall [2 has been broken, the eccentric i1 becomes operative. to exert anupward force on the flange 23 to cause the grid structure iii toseparate from the bottom of the I tray with the ice clinging thereto.After the ice bond is once broken at the front end wall I2, thecontinued upward movement of the levers l5 causes a'gradual peeling andshearing of the ice from the side walls and along the bottom of thetray, whereby the removal of the grid structure l9 and ice is readilyefliected. The eccentric or cam I1 in this instance is preferably soshaped that when it is first turned force is primarily transmitted tothe leaf spring It! to cause outward movement of the bowed side wallI2-. When the ice bond is once broken and the eccentric I1 is turnedfurther, the shape of the eccentric is such that force is primarilytransmitted to the grid structure to cause separation of the latter fromthe tray body [0. 7

Although I have shown and described particular embodiments of myinvention, it will be apparent that modifications and changes may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, asdefined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. An ice tray having resilient metallic side walls and a bottom wall,one of said side walls being normally slightly bowed inward, said traybeing constructed and arranged so that outward movement of said flexiblebowed side wall will spread apart the side walls connected to the endsof said bowed side wall to break an ice bond between said tray walls andice contained therein, and means to cause outward movement of said bowedside wall by force applied in a region intermediate the ends of saidbowed side wall and in a direction opposite to said outward movement.

2. In combination with an ice tray for refrigerators adapted to holdwater to be frozen and having a resilient bottom and side walls, one ofsaid side walls being so shaped and formed that it is expandable, aresilient member having the ends thereof secured to the outer surface ofsaid one side wall at spaced points, and said resilient member being soconstructedand arranged that, when force is applied to an intermediateregion thereof, its ends are spread apart to cause elongation of saidexpandable wall in the direction of its length and thereby break the icebond between the expandable wall and ice contained in said tray.

3. In combination with an ice tray for refrigerators adapted to holdwater to be frozen and having a resilient bottom and side walls. one ofsaid side walls being normally curved and slightly bowed inwardly, aflexible member exten ing in the direction of said bowed side wall andhaving its ends arranged to cooperate with said tray at spaced points,and said flexible member being so constructed and arranged that, whenforce is applied to an intermediate region thereof, its ends are spreadapart to cause outward movement of said bowed side wall and therebybreak the ice bond between said bowed side wall and ice contained insaid tray.

4. Apparatus for producing ice pieces includingalso being operative tolift said grid bodily away from the bottom of said tray.

5. Apparatus for producing ice pieces including a tray member adapted tohold water to be frozen and having a substantially flat resilient bottomand substantially straight side walls, a grid member removably fittingin said tray member, one of said ,side walls normally being curved andslightly bowed inwardly, said tray being so constructed and arrangedthat outward movement of said bowed side wall by force applied theretowill cause spreading apart of the side walls connected to the ends ofsaid bowed side wall, mechanism operative to cause such outward movementof said bowed side wall, and said mechanism also being operative to liftsaid grid member bodily away from the bottom of said tray member when itis being operated to cause outward movement of said bowed side wall.

6. An ice tray having a deformable side wall, a flexible member disposedlengthwise of said side wall and having the ends thereof secured to theflexible member to cause the outer ends thereof to move away from eachother to cause deformation of said side wall.

7. An ice tray having a deformable side wall, a flexible member disposedlengthwise of said wall and having the ends thereof secured to the outersurface of said side wall, and mechanism including a cam memberrotatably mounted on said tray adjacent to said flexible member, saidcam member being turnable to straighten said flexible member and causedeformation of said side wall.

b. An ice tray having a deformable side wall, a flexible member disposedlengthwise of said side wall and having the ends thereof secured to theouter surface of said side wall, and mechanism including a part movabletoward said de formable side wall and operable to exert force on saidflexible member to cause the outer ends thereof to move away from eachother to effect deformation of said side wall, said mechanism also beingoperative to exert a separating force between said grid member and saidtray.

GUNNAR GRUBB.

